BURNS331

Is vista MCE any better than XP MCE?

Im having a lot of issues with XP MCE, it locks up when using media center. The computer doesnt lock up and i can force quit the program, but it just doenst seem to work well anymore. I dont have any virus's/spam im pretty sure.

I have been kicking around the idea of getting the Vista MCE, just didnt know if it was worth it or not.

Thanks

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corky dorkelson

Not sure if it matters to you or not, but Win7 has media center built-in. I think I am going Win7 with my HTPC after giving it a whirl on my sig rig.

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glenbuck1914

I like Vista MC, although it was forced on me due to family members needing a simple interface for the htpc.

DVD Folder/ISO/AVI playback is fine. You need to change some codec/registry settings for MKV playback. I've found the only file type it really doesn't like is M2TS (strangely TS and M2T are fine). The mymovies plugin is also great for DVD/Blu Ray covers.

It is an improvement over XP MC so definitely worth a try.

DuckieHo

Windows 7 has an even better MCE than Vista.

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BURNS331

I would love to get windows 7, but when does it finally come out? Also if i buy a retail copy, can i put it on 2 computers?

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Canada Guy

In my opinion I would stay away from Win7 in an HTPC for a bit. I upgraded my HTPC recently (sig rig) and I have had a number of issues with choppy video, grainy video, and washed out video.

I am nearly 100% cetain that the problems result from Win7 since I had no issues in Vista. I have tried VLC, Media PLayer Classic, WMP, and Zoom Player to try to fix the problems, but it seems everytime I try a new program, some other issue in video playback arises.

Paradigm Shifter

When it comes to Windows Media Centre, 7 > Vista > XP.

I'm running video and audio from an Ion HTPC via HDMI with Windows 7 right now. Works like a charm. I'd be using linux and XBMC if I could persuade it that it wanted to output sound via HDMI.

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BURNS331

Where can i get windows 7 right now?

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Coma

Instead of trying to work around problems by trying different software, solve them! Post in the Other Software forum.

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When asking for help: state the goal, not the step.

Canada Guy

I don't know if you can still get it from MS. There was a while there that you could go to the Win7 site and download the RTM build, but I think that may have been closed.

I have posted in the software forum about the issues and I have tried very hard to get WMP to display video correctly. I was just giving my 2 cents that upgrading to Win7 for a HTPC may be more problems than it's worth right now. It was not my intent to derail this thread!